A cheque (or check in American English) is a document/instrument (usually a piece of paper) that orders a payment of money from a bank account. The person writing the cheque, the drawer, usually has a current account (British and HK), or checking account (US), or chequing account (CAN) where their money was previously deposited. The drawer writes the various details including the money amount, date, and a payee on the cheque, and signs it, ordering their bank, known as the drawee, to pay that person or company the amount of money stated.

Cheques are a type of bill of exchange and were developed as a way to make payments without the need to carry large amounts of gold and silver. Paper money also evolved from bills of exchange, and are similar to cheques in that they were originally a written order to pay the given amount to whomever had it in their possession (the "bearer").

Technically, a cheque is a negotiable instrument instructing a financial institution to pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specified transactional account held in the drawer's name with that institution. Both the drawer and payee may be natural persons or legal entities. Specifically, cheques are order instruments, and are not in general payable simply to the bearer (as bearer instruments are) but must be paid to the payee. In some countries, such as the US, the payee may endorse the cheque, allowing them to specify a third party to whom it should be paid.

Although cheques have been in use since at least the 9th century, it was during the 20th century that cheques became a highly popular non-cash method for making payments and the usage of cheques peaked. By the second half of the 20th century, as cheque processing became automated, billions of cheques were issued annually; these volumes peaked in or around the early 1990s. Since then cheque usage has fallen, being partly replaced by electronic payment systems. In some countries cheques have become a marginal payment system or have been phased out completely.

Noun

cheques

1. Plural form of cheque.

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